Warm air furnace



-- qiz Nov. 22, 193. R. W. MENK 2,137,474

WARM AIR FURNACE Filed No 16, 1955 2 sheets-sheet 1 Nqv. 22, 1938. R wMENK 2,137,474

WARM AIR FURNACE Filed Nov. 16, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IgIIIlIIIIIAVA'IIIJ'IllI/IIIIIIIIJIIATI R000; PH IVK Patented Nov. 22, 1938 TED STATESPATENT OFFICE." f

WARM AIR FURNACE Rudolph w. Menk, Joliet, 111. Application November16,1935, Serial No. 50,191 3 cl ims. (01. 1 26- 99) My invention relatesto heating appliances, and has more -specific reference to warm orhotair furnaces for the heating of houses, or other apartments. M a

One of the principal objects of my invention is toprovide a furnacethatis fabricated almost entirely of sheet metal plates that are joinedtogether preferably by Welding to provide tight- 1y sealed joints thateffectively prevent escape of air and gas from the structure. -When:constructed in the aforesaid manner the cost of pro- ,duction issubstantially reduced, as is also the Weight of the furnace, and bymeans of the novel construction and arrangement of the component partsthe efficiency of the. heating apparatus is considerably increased. 1

Other objects of my invention are to provide a furnace that is novel inconstruction; is dependable in use; is capable of being readilyassembled when being manufactured, and also when being installed orerected in a house; and is effective in performing the functions forwhich itis designed. Further objects and advantages of my furnace willbe obvious to persons skilled in the art after the construction'andoperation thereof is understood from the following detailed :de-

scription.

I prefer to accomplish all of the objects of my invention, and topractice the same in substantially the manner hereinafter fullydescribed and as more particularly pointed out in the-appended claims.In connection with this description reference is made to theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification.

fInthe drawings: Q Figure 1 is a Vertical axial section of my heat-- ingfurnace, theview being made on the plane of line l--I of Figure2. gFigure 2 an elevation looking at the rear of the furnace body, the outercasing being shown in dotted lines. Figure 3 is a horizontal sectiontaken online 3- 43 of Figure 1, looking down in the direction of thearrows.

Figure 4 is a vertical section on line 4-4 of Figure 1, looking towardsthe front ofthe furnace in the direction of the arrows i Figure 5 is adetail'view showing the manner of installing or removing the fire-brick.

The drawings, which are more or less schematic, are for the purpose ofdisclosing a typical or preferred form in which my furnace may beconstructed; and in said drawings like reference characters identifylike parts appearing in the different views.

The body of the furnace is preferably entirely surrounded or enclosedwithin an outer shell or casing 5 which is made of the usual gauge ofsheet-metal, and in the present instance the casing is conveniently maderectangular in shape: with rounded corners. There is a tapered bonnet atthe topof the casing which is provided with discharge openings foregress of the heated air to the distributor pipes (not shown) and at therear, near the bottom of. the casing there is an inlet opening thatisconnected to: a return-air conduit or pipe 6. At the front of the casingthere is a panel 1 that is provided with a feed openingand door 8 and anash-pitopening and door 9, both of which doors are provided with air ordraft control dampers.

The furnace body within the casing 5'is a cylindrical unitarystructureformed from plates of sheet-metal of much heavier gauge than the gaugeof the sheet-metal used in the casing, and this body is of simple and'novel construction. {The main portion of this bodyis a sheet metalcylinder or shell l0 standing upright to dispose ,its (axis vertical andit. is supported above and spaced from the floor by L-shaped feet I Ithat are welded to the outer .face of the body or shell.'

The upperand lower ends of the cylindric body 10 are closed by outwardlybulged or bellied shaped furnace body is provided having a domeshapedtop and an inverted dome-shaped bottom. A feed opening is made in thefront wall of the cylindric, body It! alining with the feed opening anddoor 8 in the panel and rectangular shaped horizontal and vertical wallsconnect the corresponding edges of these alined openings to provide asuitable passageway l 4 from outside the casing 5 to the interior of thebody where the combustion chamber is located. Another opening is made inthe lower portion of the cylindric body it alining with the ash-pitopening and door 9 in the panel and rectangular shaped horizontal andvertical walls I5 connect the corresponding edges of these openingstoprovide a suitable passageway leading to the interior of the ash-pit.3 l

The fuel grates it of the rocker type extend across the lower portion ofthe body In in a horizontalplane above the top of the door 9 and dividethe interior of said body into an upper combustion chamber H and a lowerash-pit I 8. The interior surface of that portion of the combustionchamber in which the fuel is placed and burned is faced: withfire-bricks L) that are supported upon an annular shelf 29 extendingportions of the metal inwardly around the lower portion of thecombustion chamber just above the plane of the grates, and saidfire-brick are secured in position by metal clamps l9 that are bolted tothe inside faces of the vertical plates forming the fuel passage-way I4.I

In order to rock or vibrate the grates a horizontally disposed shakerbar 2| extends from outside the casing into the ash-pit [8 where it issuitably connected to said grates, while the opposite or outer endofsaid shaker bar is pivotally connected to a vertically disposedoperating handle 22. The portion of the shaker bar between the handleand the ash-pit is enclosed within a housing :1: having guide slots ateach end on which'said bar is reciprocably disposed.

This arrangement prevents egress of dust and ashes out of the ash-pitduring the operation of shaking the grates.

At the top of the combustion chamber the body or shell I!) is providedwith a horizontally elongated opening 23 thatextends in an annulardirection slightly less than half-way aroundthe rear segment of thebody. In height,

extends from just above the top of the fire-brick l9 up to near the topof the cylindric metal plate forming the body or shell. A row offire-bricks 24, having one or more this opening 23 openings therein, areplaced ,in the opening 23. The cubical dimensions as well as the surfaceareas of these fire-bricks are greater than the corresponding dimensionsof the adjacent wall. A heat-retaining body results from thisarrangement in which the temperature is readily built up and retainedeven after the bed of fuel in the furnace has died down, and since saidheat-retaining body has greater surface area and bulk than the normalarea and bulk of the much thinner metal plate of the furnace wall thegases in passing this heat-retainer bodywill maintain their temperaturesand combustion will continue and will not be retarded as thegases travelin their movement out of said chamber II. In addition to the foregoing,the fire-bricks afford protection to the edges of the metal wall whichthey overlap'at the opening, and they restrict the size of the outletopening and divide the stream of comlzustion gases passing out'of thechamber, so that when combustion'has been retarded and the fire diesdown this fire-brick heat-retaining body will continue to radiate heat.For the purpose of permitting the ready installation or removal of thesefire-bricks their top and bottom edges are provided with channels orgrooves 25 and 21 respectively, the former or top grooves being deeperthan those in the, latter or bottom edges of the bricks.

Thus, the top of a brick is first engaged with the upper margin of theopening 23 and moved upward until the adjacent edge of the metal platereaches the bottom of the groove 28, after which the lower edge of thebrick may be moved into the opening in order to aline the bottom groove21 with the lower edge of the opening and then lowered to its; properposition. This is detailed in Figure 5. The vertical edges of thefire-bricks are provided with rabbets 28 which permits overlapping ofthe edges of the adjacent bricks and also permits the end edges of theend bricks to overlap the vertical edges of the opening 23. The egressopening or openings 25 are made by molding the adjacent bricks insomewhat of a U-shape which is readily done by shell so that saidradiator projects rearwardly from the upper portion of the body or shellas seen in Figures 1 and 3. At or adjacent its lower edge, the rear wall39 is provided with a smoke outlet to which a sheet-metal stub or sleeve3| is welded.

The top and bottom Walls 32 and 33, respectively, of the radiatorconsist of substantially rectangular horizontally disposed sheet-metalplates that are united by welding to the respective edges of thevertical walls 29 and 33, and the forward portions of these top andbottom walls have segmental or substantially semi-circular cut-outportions so that said edges will be shaped to fit against and be weldedto the outer surface of the body Hi. It will be seen the upper segmentof the smoke outlet is spaced a substantial distance below thehorizontal plane of the lower edge of the opening or openings 25 in thefire-brick communicating into the combustion chamber, so that the hotproducts of combustion, after leaving the body or shell 10, must travelin a downward direction in the radiator before said products can escapeto the chimney or other discharge flue.

In order to further retard movement of the hot products of combustion intheir travel from the combustion chamber IT to the chimney, an

inverted V-shaped baffle 34 is installed within the radiator. Thisbaffle preferably consists of a sheet metal plate that is bentintermediate its side edges to provide two inclined members 34 and 34that slope downwardly from the bend which provides the apex 34 of thebafiie. By reference to Figures 1 and 2 it will be seen that the baffleis positioned so that the apex 34 there- ,so that elongated narrowpassageways 35 are provided at the opposite side edges of the bafiie.The products'of combustion upon entering the rad1ator are divided by thebattle, being compelled thereby to move towards the side walls 29 of theradiator and then practically reverse their direction of movement inpassing around the opposite edges of the baffle before they can reachthe smoke outlet. These circuituous paths tend to retard movement of thehot products of combustion with the result that said products remain alonger period of time in this novel radiator than in the case inradiators of ordinary construction. Another feature is that thefire-bricks 24 with their spaced openings to divide the hot products ofcombustion perform the function of a heat-retainer body and assist inmaintaining a hot temperature in the radiator. Also it will be apparentthat the furnace body, including the radiator, being fabricated fromsheet-metal plates welded together, will become heated more rapidly thanwill become heated in less time than in other and similar types ofwarm-air furnaces.

What I claim is 1. A device of the kind described embodying furnacewalls providing a combustion chamber, one of said walls having anopening, a radiator communicating with the combustion chamber throughsaid opening, and firerbricks mounted in and surrounding said openingwhereby to provide a heat-retainer body, the top and bottom edges ofsaid bricks provided with seats receiving the wall edges at said openingwhereby to mount said bricks and protect the edges of said opening.

2. A warm-air furnace embodying vertical and horizontal sheet-metalwalls providing a combustion chamber, one of said walls having anopening, a sheet-metal radiator on the exterior of said walls andcommunicating with the combustion chamber through said opening, andfire-bricks mounted in said opening and surrounding the sheet-metal wallat the edges thereof, all of said bricks provided with edge seats toreceive the edges of the wall at said opening whereby to mount saidbricks and protect said wall edges, and certain of said bricks having aU-shaped body whereby to constrict the area of said opening.

3. A warm-air furnace embodying walls providing a combustion chamberhaving an outlet opening, a radiator communicating with said chamberthrough said opening, and fire-bricks mounted in and surrounding saidopening, said bricks being of greater thickness than the Wall definingsaid opening whereby to provide a heatretainer body about said opening,certain edges of said bricks having longitudinal grooves receiving theedges of said wall at said opening whereby to protect said edges andafford means for mounting said bricks in said opening.

RUDOLPH W. MENK.

